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By kilax, December 16, 2012 8:13 pm

Highlight of the Week: All the time I got to spend with my favorite running friends this week! I had four one-on-one runs, and one huge group run! And one of those runs was to pace my NYC bestie at a 5K today!

Monday | December 10, 2012: 6 m run (w/Bobbi)
Loc: Millennium Trail, Time: 58:57, Pace: 9:50 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good to push it on the hills
Tuesday | December 11, 2012: 5 m run (w/Erin)
Loc: Chicago Lakefront Trail, Temp: 34°/34°, Time: 46:01, Pace: 9:12 avg, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: happy
Wednesday | December 12, 2012: 3.2 m run + strength class
Loc: neighborhood, Temp: 45°/43°, Time: 33:16, Pace: 10:24 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: cold
Strength: dumbbells & boxing, Difficulty: medium, Felt: high heart rate during boxing (small class – did both rounds)
Thursday | December 13, 2012: 4 m run (w/Anne)
Loc: Bear Lakes, Vernon Hills, Temp: 46°/45°, Time: 49:13, Pace: 12:19 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good!
Friday | December 14, 2012: strength + 4 m run
Strength: bars & kettlebells, Difficulty: medium, Felt: strong
Loc: neighborhood, Temp: 41°/37, Time: 42:48, Pace: 10:42, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Saturday | December 15, 2012: 3.1 m run (w/Chicago Running Bloggers)
Loc: UIC Campus, Temp: 45°/45°, Time: 36:21, Pace: 11:44 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great
Sunday | December 16, 2012: Hot Chocolate 5K (w/Gina)
Loc: Roosevelt Island, NYC, Temp: 45°/45°, Time: 32:36, Pace: 10:23 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great!

Streaking Notes:

• Being able to do just a short 3.1 miler every day makes it a lot easier to fit running in, than my previous mindset of “must always run at least 5!” However, I am really craving a long run!
• I think I will end up running more overall this month than I would have, had I not been streaking. 
• Running every day is getting to be a bit annoying… because I want to be lazy. I feel great though. 

Overall Notes:

• My Friday strength workout was interesting! We worked with bars and kettleballs – doing one move with one, then the move again with the other. Very fun way to mix it up!
• I ordered new shoes and they arrived on Thursday. I think I will start running in them this week. Funny thing – I noticed my shoes with more mileage were worn out less than the ones in this post. 

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By kilax, December 15, 2012 6:30 pm

I really have my priorities straight when it comes to packing – presents* and running shoes.

Funny (creepy?) story about the shoes packed in the pink bag. I haven’t worn them since October when I went out in a muddy cornfield in them… when I got them to pack, there was a piece of corn stuck in the shoe tread. The corn had mold growing on it.

I know. I know. I should’ve taken a picture. Sigh. Blogger FAIL.

Where am I going?! NYC of course! To run my last race of the year with Gina, and do some shopping and cuddling.

But! First things first! It wouldn’t be December if my schedule was not crazy busy**, so this morning we had the Chicago Running Bloggers party at Erin‘s house!

We did a run in the rain***, had a huge chili bar and appetizers potluck, did a Yankee Swap and even had voting for the best “holiday-themed” dressed.

There was a HUGE turnout (20+ people), and I was excited to catch up with bloggers I already know, and meet a few I hadn’t met in person yet!

From L to R, starting in the back:
Back Row: Anne, Katie, Emily, Cary, Lauren, Maggie, Bobbi, Charlyn
Second Row: Amanda, Katie, Kelly, Amy, Marcia, me
Front Row: Riyanti, Emily, Lindsay, Sara, Erica, Erin
By herself: Kelsey
Not pictured: Christina

The Yankee Swap was fun! I am too anxious to choose a new gift to open when I play, so I usually steal one. So I stole the Philosophy Bubble Bath that Emily won. Hee hee hee.

Are you doing any gift swaps this year? Do you usually open a new gift or “steal” one in a Yankee Swap?

I had a lot of fun at the party, and am really excited that I have met such a huge amount of new (to me), local bloggers this year (and gotten closer to the ones I already knew)! It’s so much fun to have a huge network of friends all over Chicagoland. And I love that many of us share similar interests and can hang out outside of running events too! Now if only we could hang out ALL the time and silly work… and other commitments didn’t get in the way… one can dream!

*Prezzies, as I usually call them.
**Ha ha, this makes it sound like I had no control over this, when in fact, me and Maggie picked this morning for the party.
***I am on team SNOW!!!

Comments (29)

By kilax, December 14, 2012 6:27 am

Whoa! I was surprised by the amount of comments on yesterday’s post! Funny to me, since I was hesitant about publishing it. Thanks for your feedback!

Do you wear perfume or cologne? When do you wear it, and what scent?

Wow, somehow, I have a lot of perfume… despite rarely wearing it. I only use the far right bottle, Burberry Brit. And I kind of just wear it when I remember. I never put it on if I have a headache though!

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By kilax, December 13, 2012 12:21 pm

WARNING: This is not meant to be a downer post. Nor, is it meant to criticize anyone. This is just a thought I need to share about gifting (year-round, but especially now). I am not trying to be ungrateful or mean. But I do need to share this gut reaction. So, feel free, as always, to tell me if I need to grow up, stfu, get out of my own head, or get a clue.

Also, I realize this is my third post about gifts this week. Sorry. 

I loooove buying gifts for other people. It’s kind of a selfish thing – I get a lot of energy from seeing someone excited and surprised about something I have purchased for them (especially if it is out of the blue). It’s fun and it makes me feel good. 

But, gift giving isn’t always a fun and feel good thing! Sometimes we feel obligated to buy gifts for people we don’t know very well. I imagine sometimes people feel obligated to buy things and don’t want to at all! And sometimes you are not in the financial position to gift how you want to. And for some people, the holidays make them feel like they have too much stuff, and guilty for mass consumerism. Geesh. There can be a lot of mixed feeling toward gift giving. 

But I generally love giving gifts, and of course, receiving them.

Except sometimes the gifts I receive make me feel bad.

And this is the part where I really really don’t want you to think I am ungrateful. I am not. I have so many thoughtful people in my life. But I would be lying if I said I have never received a gift and thought, “You don’t know me very well,” or “You want me to be interested in something I am not interested in.”

Sigh. I feel like I shouldn’t post this. Because those two quoted thoughts sound so bad. But! I have had those feelings. And I am sure I have done that to other people. Uh, like my friends who get in to running and I don’t stop getting them running stuff ?! Or buying a rocket for my brother for his birthday (which he did use a year later)? Buying someone jewelry all the time, a jacket for their birthday two years in a row (guilty)… I do it too. 

Anyway, so sometimes I get a gift and it just makes me feel guilty, that the person who gave it to me doesn’t know me as well as they could. It makes me feel like I am not communicating with people the way I should. That I give all these details about me in my little blog but fail to share things in real life, with other people who matter, too. 

Well geesh, that took a turn of events. Now I feel guilty about my blog?

Can anyone relate or am I a total ass?

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By kilax, December 12, 2012 6:16 am

Yay, it is that time of year where many of my posts are inspired by gifts! How clever I am… not! Ha ha. Still to come – a post about my mom’s early birthday gift for Steven.

Erin and I exchanged gifts last night and she made me this thoughtful book containing photos of some of our shenanigans. 

The text in it was just perfect! Erin is such a clever writer. 

I may or may not have teared up a bit when I opened this and read it. It may or may not have been the bottle of wine we shared. Ha ha. No really, the book was that perfect. I think I would have teared up sans alcohol.  

I am definitely going to keep this somewhere where I can see it often (maybe next to my BibFolio?), so I can flip through it when I need a smile. 

Has anyone ever given you a personalized photo book? Have you ever made one for someone?

I made one for my sister after my wedding, but I think this is the first one I’ve ever received! Flipping through it, and seeing all the pictures of our running adventures made me miss that special time Erin and I used to have together on long runs when we were training for the Milwaukee Marathon. We’ve only done one race together this year, compared to our normal four zillion. I hope we make that change in 2013 – at least the training together part!

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By kilax, December 11, 2012 6:12 am

…to get new shoes

Yeah. I am not sure these shoes are going to last 21 more days of a running streak – look at how worn out they are (circled in red)!

The funny thing is, because of my messed up running gait, only the right shoe is worn down this bad, in this spot. My left shoe is worn down in the front, outer edge. Yay! Messed up gait!

Just look at my left foot! Ooo… who is that sexy guy to my left?! Aww, I miss my old running partner… Okay, and I have to laugh at my bat belt with the camera on it. Obviously, this picture is old…

Photo from this post.

Where do your shoes wear down first?

At dinner this weekend, I was telling my family how all of my running shoes are worn out (*hint hint, buy me some new ones! ha ha ha). My grandma seemed appalled that they were wearing out so fast. She suggested that I tell the manufacturer they need to redesign the shoe so they don’t wear down so quickly.

Ha ha ha.

I explained to my grandma it is not the shoe… it is ME. I land really funny and wear out those spots fast. If there were to make any changes, it would have to be to add more tread in those areas – and then I would be all off balance! Also, I could stand to lose a few pounds so my shoes last a bit longer.

So, I either need to fix my gait (hmm), lose weight (ha ha), or buy new shoes. Which do you think is the easiest and will happen first? Hee hee.

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By kilax, December 10, 2012 6:35 am

Sorry Helper Cat, I have some one else to help me wrap gifts!

Last week someone was bragging to me about how they have ALL of their holiday shopping done and ALL of their presents wrapped. 

Crap.

Uhh. Yeah. Despite early discussions of gift buying, it’s still a work in progress. Don’t worry! Panic mode WILL NOT be happening this year. But that person made me feel like I needed to step up my game. 

So Saturday was spent shopping it up at the outlet mall,

and Friday and Saturday night spent wrapping gifts.

Okay, okay, let’s be honest… I only bought presents for four people on Saturday – 80% of that bag haul is my mom and grandma’s.

And… my mom wrapped all my gifts for me! MUAH HA HA HA!

I texted her on her way out here from Iowa on Thursday, asking if she would help me wrap… and she did ALL the work. All I did was help get paper, ribbon and stickers out, and answer questions about which wrapping paper I thought looked the nicest. The only gift she didn’t wrap was her own.* 

Mom, please come back and wrap the rest of my holiday gifts that I have yet to buy. Or should I just mail them directly to your house for you to wrap?

How is everyone doing with shopping and wrapping?

I only have a few more people left on my gift list, and I have ideas on what to get them all, so I feel pretty good about it all! But I do dread the wrapping part. Ha ha. 

And in case you were wondering, Helper Cat did make an appearance…

Past appearances of Helper Cat here and here. 

*Slacker!

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By kilax, December 9, 2012 7:15 pm

Highlight of the Week: Making it through my first full week of the running streak!

Monday | December 3, 2012: strength + 4 m run (w/Anne)
Strength: steps, dumbbells & bands, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: better toward the end
Loc: Bear Lakes, Vernon Hills, Temp: 68°/66°, Time: 50:29, Pace: 12:38 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Tuesday | December 4, 2012: 4 m run
Loc: Millennium Trail, Temp: 53°/51°, Time: 38:12, Pace: 9:33 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: bored
Wednesday | December 5, 2012: strength class + 3.1 m run (w/GRCers)
Strength: dumbbells & boxing, Difficulty: medium, Felt: un-powerful
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 34°/32°, Time: 32:40, Pace: 10:33 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: okay
Thursday | December 6, 2012: 3.5 m run
Loc: Neighborhood, Temp: 45°/45°, Time: 35:43, Pace: 10:13 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: fine
Friday | December 7, 2012: 3.1 m run 
Loc: Neighborhood, Temp: 39°, Time: 33:13, Pace: 10:42, Difficulty: easy, Felt: half asleep
Saturday | December 8, 2012: 3.1 m run
Loc: Neighborhood, Temp: 36°/37°, Time: 30:39, Pace: 9:53 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: pensive
Sunday | December 9, 2012: 5 m run (w/Bobbi + GRCers)
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 39°/39°, Time: 47:11, Pace: 9:26 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: chatty

Streaking Notes:
Last week I announced I would do an every day running streak for December. Since then I have signed up for Slowly Tri-ing‘s December 5K a Day Challenge – hence all the 3.1s! As of now, I am still going strong with my 9-day running streak – probably the most days I have ever run in a row?

• Overall, my body feels great! However, a few things are leading to the bottom of my left foot being sore – wearing old knee high boots with no support, walking a lot (playing tourist!) and needing new running shoes. I’m going to keep an eye on that. It seems I have finally gotten rid of the plantar fasciitis (PF) in my left foot – I don’t want to invite it back! 
• But! Speaking of PF, I think running less overall is better for it. It seems to have gone away since I cut back miles in November! Woo hoo! And while the streak requires an every day run, it encourages less running overall. It’s very interesting – running more times a week, but often, less. 
• It was challenging to get my streak miles in this week with my family visiting – not that they are not super supportive of it (they are) – I just don’t want to miss out on the fun! I got up at 5:00 am on Friday to run and had to fit Saturday’s run in while dinner was in the oven. I think there are going to be quite a few days in the month that are challenging like this – but that is the point of streaking – fitting it in whenever you can!
• Running every day is making the runs that I do by myself less memorable. 

Overall notes:

• This week I had two dog encounters while running my neighborhood in the dark. The first time, it was one of those beautiful dogs that looks like a wolf, standing next to a house. I couldn’t tell if he was leashed or not, and he did not approach me,  but I was startled – he looked like a wolf! On Saturday, I was running by someone’s house who had their front door and garage open and their dog approached me (I won’t name the breed, but one of those with a bad rep). I was again, startled, so I stopped, and the family eventually called him (after he growled at me). I need to re-read what I am supposed to do if approached by a dog. 
• I haven’t been running with music on my solo runs this week, and man, I am not sure if I should be left alone with my thoughts! They are so scattered and all over the place. Where did my attention span go? Any ideas for thinking exercises to work on my attention span?

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By kilax, December 8, 2012 8:30 am

My parents and mom’s mom are in town for our annual baking extravaganza*. Since Steven and I have a membership to the Shedd Aquarium, we ventured in to the city yesterday to go. We got there when they opened, and I am so happy we did – the aquarium was not crowded for the first hour or so that we were there, and it was so nice to be able to look at exhibits without feeling rushed or trampled on. We even got to hear Shedd staff do a mini presentation on sharks and then another on penguins – I didn’t even know they did presentations!

Anyway, my favorite part of visiting the Shedd is always the dolphin** show. I just loving seeing the dolphins do their coordinated jumps, flips and other tricks! So we got tickets to the 10:30 show. I am also happy we got to the theater early – because it filled up fast. There were a bunch of school groups there and we had to make sure we sat in a non group section. We chose the our seats and were hanging out when a Shedd staff member started to approach us. I immediately thought “Oh crap! Did we sit where we aren’t supposed to?!”

But no. She approached to ask if I wanted to be the special guest in the dolphin show and get to pet a dolphin!

OF COURSE I WANT TO!

So I left my family*** and sat in the first row of the theater, and Courtney, the Shedd staff member, prepped me – she would introduce me to the audience, then we would sit together and watch the show until it was time for me to go play with the dolphins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The show ended up being holiday themed, which I LOVED. They had singers, a sing-a-long, and characters that came out. It was so fun to hear the excitement in the audience (especially all the kids). When I introduced myself as being from Round Lake, some kid in the audience excitedly proclaimed that he was from there too, ha ha. Courtney welcomed me asking questions to her during the show, so I actually learned a little bit too!

Then we got to go backstage. I wore boots provided by the Shedd so I could walk in the water. I had to sanitize my hands and the boots, and Courtney also prepped me on how to stand out there, and three different commands for the dolphins – to touch my hand, spin and clap. 

I went out there with Courtney (she had her hand on my back the whole time, for safety) and got to meet the trainers. I got to hold my hand out for the dolphin to jump up to it,

and I also got to pet it! The Shedd has a new baby dolphin, and while he was not in the show, he was swimming around the whole time, checking us out, and seeing what his mom was doing. So cute!

My mom made a little video of me out there – you can see the dolphin jumping up at my hand at :35 and me petting her at :53.

After my participation was over, I got to stay out there to watch the finale! It was really cool to see the trainers give the commands up close! And to be so close to the dolphins!!! (whoa, lots of exclamation points)

The show was done after that and I went back to my family! Courtney told me I did a great job (despite a few mistakes I know I made) and was so nice the whole time. She really made me feel like a special guest! I have no idea why she picked me! She didn’t even know I was a Shedd member until we were talking. I wonder if maybe my red jacket made me stand out?

And the only bad part about the whole thing was that my family had to watch the show on their own. But they had fun without me (and were excited I got to go out there). 

After that we toured the Shedd some more and a few kids said “Hi, Kim!” I would think “How do I know them?!” then remember I was in the show. Ha ha ha. 

Have you ever pet or fed a dolphin?

It’s funny, when I was sitting with my grandma before Courtney came up to me, my grandma asked me if I ever had fed a dolphin! Nope! But now I can say I petted one! 

Steven wasn’t able to come with us, but was really excited for me, and now he says we should look for a “swim with the dolphins activity” for our next vacation.

*which is now just a shopping extravaganza
**well aquatic show, but the dolphins are my fave
***and jewelry behind 

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By kilax, December 7, 2012 5:57 am

What are your nervous habits? Or (more fun) what are other people’s nervous habits that you have noticed?

Displaying our nervous habits*

After a meeting yesterday, two people told me (on separate occasions) that they stayed attentive during the meeting by paying attention to other people’s mannerisms. Ha ha ha. So it made me wonder if people would notice my nervous habits…

1. Picking at my nails
2. Playing with my earrings (if not wearing studs)
3. Fidgeting (bouncing my legs up and down)
4. Binge eating (geesh, hopefully not in a meeting!)

I looked online and there were pages dedicated to people’s nervous habits, and what it says about the people who have them. I chose not to read in to it. Ha ha. 

*My mom wanted me to say that we are faking it – that we really don’t have any.